Houston: The Lord is good

Hello my brothers and sisters in Christ. I want to start by saying how thankful I am for each of you. I often think of you all, my support system and it brings me joy and causes me to give thanks to the Lord for your prayers and friendship. I just finished my second week hosting and my third group just arrived earlier this evening. Much has happened last week, great and powerful things. I have seen the Lord move in great and mighty ways. Let me update you all on my previous week of hosting...

So my group last week was a senior high group from Korean Central Presbyterian Church from Katy, TX. I was really excited to hang out with S. Koreans because one of my besties Jinwon Kim is from S. Korea! This group was amazing. They were mostly seniors in HS. I really connected with the leader from the church. He and I talked alot about life and he really encouraged me in many ways. I'm so thankful the Lord placed me with this group..

Our anchor site for the week was Holt House Boys and Girls Club. We went there every afternoon for five days. Most of the kids here are from single-parent families living below the poverty line. Some of these kids were really tough. My heart was heavy for many of them. Most of the time my group just played games with the kids. I particularly connected with this kid named Adam who goes to Holt House every day for 8 hours while his parent(s) are at work. I could tell this kid had trouble fitting in because he gets made fun of alot for his weight. I remember I was playing monopoly with him and a couple of kids from my group. He said that we were his best friends. Best friends? We have only played with him for 30 minutes! It made me sad that he attends the club every day but we, volunteers who had only been there for like a day, were his best friends. I'm still processing my experience at Holt House.

Some awesome things happened at Holt House. I was reading my bible on the last day there and this little 6 year old kid came up to me and said "Hey! a bible!" I said "yea! do you have a bible at home?" He said "Yea I read it all the time!" I smiled and he started reading my bible to himself...I decided to turn it to John 3:16 and I told him to read it. He read it and then someone called seconds for the snack so he ran off to get seconds. This happened right after I was getting discouraged about thinking if these kids knew Jesus... it was like the Lord was saying "my people are everywhere, even where you least expect" I saw hope in a 6 year old and it made the whole week worth it.

I did hit a low point this week. It was wednesday i think and around dinner time I started feeling like I couldn't do this any more and I felt so inadequate. I was already discouraged from something that happened earlier and it was like Satan used that to make me crumble. I knew I needed to pray immediately. I didn't really know what to pray for so I just said "Lord help me.." on the way home from dinner I felt like the He told me "Its going to be OK".. I got home and prayed for the Lord to take this from me. Me and my friend Janet decided to break into the chapel at the church we were staying at and just play worship music. It was beautiful. We took turns playing worship songs on the piano. I'm not really good at the piano so it wasn't hillsong worship but it was raw worship from my soul. I cried out to the Lord in the chapel that night. The Lord is so good that He immediately took this burden from me.

One of the coolest parts of my job is that I get to lead debriefs at night with my group. Its basically a time for the group to process all that they experienced that day. My group wasn't especially talkative but the Lord often gave me scriptures to encourage my group and it was pretty amazing..I am so humbled to be used by the Lord in this way..

Here are some highlights from this past week for you all...

1. I found this amazing coffee ship in Montrose called Agora. Really good coffee and the place looked like a huge wooden cabin/pub in the mountains. We need one of these in Wichita..

2. I have been seeking the Lord so much lately. My faith has already grown so much since being in Houston..

3. Getting to talk to my group leader Dan alot last week was a blessing. He is definitely someone I will keep in contact with after this summer. As the group was leaving he told me that if I ever come back to Houston I have a place to stay and a church to go to. How incredible..I'm so thankful for him.

4. I had the best cake ever last week. Paul's wife made it and it was a strawberry cake with pureed strawberries in the mix...so good...

5. I've been reading psalms every day. I love the way the Lord encourages me with His Word.

6. I got to talk to my boss/mentor Paul for like 30 minutes in the car while it was pouring rain one day. He's so wise and I love talking to that man every chance i get.

7. Yesterday I spent all day at the beach in Galveston. I got burned all over. It hurts but it was a good time..

Thanks for reading, my friends.

Here are some prayer requests that you can pray for if you feel led:

-Pray that I would give God all the glory for the way He works. Sometimes I try to take credit for some awesome things that happen but its all the Lord..He gets all the glory. I am just a vessel.

-Pray that I would use my free time to glorify God and to spend intentional time in the Word and in prayer.

-Pray for my energy and that the Lord would do great things with my group this week.

Thank you all so much for your encouragement and your prayers. I miss you all and can't wait to see you when I get back on Aug. 8th. I already bought my plane ticket, haha.

In Christ,

Tyler Ray